The Simplified Carry System 1

Preparing to legally carry a concealed handgun is to embark on a path of many choices – ethical, legal, societial, and financial, among others. Which training and permitting classes are needed? Where can these be taken, and who is certified and capable of providing the best training and information? What are the ethical and very serious legal requirements and ramifications of carrying a concealed weapon? What level of training is minimal to meet those requirements?

In addition to these, more prosaic concerns come to the fore – what type and caliber of handgun is adequate, and best for the shooter? The best answer to this particular question is not easily come by in most instances and should be considered very carefully before one invests in a gun, or guns for concealed carry. Seek out a knowledgeable professional, not a friend who likes guns, or in many instances, the sales person at your local gun shop. Look up respected members of the shooting community with these kinds of experiences, people like Massad Ayoob whose writings and videos are readily available on the internet.

You will find that the best answer is usually the same one that you will hear from an experienced project manager: it depends. It depends on one's obvious physical characteristics, among other things. Someone who is not an experienced shooter and who stands five feet two inches and weighs a little over a hundred pounds has no business carrying something like a Model 1911 .45 semi-automatic. Not only will it be too heavy and difficult to conceal, but will likely be almost impossible for such a person to shoot with acceptable accuracy.

It depends on your level of experience. Are you a competent shooter at the range? If so, are you also competent with shooting a close ranges, quickly in extremely stressful situations? Few people are. How good are you at handling gun problems should they arise when the chips are down? Ammunition stoppages, jams, failure to feed or extract with a semi-automatic pistol can happen, and if they do, are you prepared to efficiently deal with them while you may be getting shot at? Few people are.

If you chose to carry a small, lightweight pistol as your main weapon because it's light weight, concealable and effective with modern ammunition, can you reliably hit your target with it in combat conditions? If not, then why not? What would you need to ensure that if you do have to shoot, you will not accidentally shoot an innocent person?

How will you carry your pistol? Where? What kind of holster is best for each of those choices?

Again, it all depends.

There are many other considerations to carrying and effectively using a concealed handgun. Those are merely a few. With these things in mind, I have set out to put together a simplified carry system that addresses the most important questions that someone new to concealed carry may have. Hopefully, it will also deal with those of us who have been searching for a solid carry system and have invested more than we wanted in guns, accessories and holsters. There are certainly other choices, but I've settled on the system I describe below for certain reasons.

The System

It is composed of four major components chosen for specific reasons and to work together solidly on a daily basis.

The Gun

Ruger LCR .38 Special +P with LaserMax CenterFire sight

A revolver? Not a Glock, or a Beretta, or an M&P...? Yes, and I have very good reasons for choosing this pistol over the others.

The Ruger LCR .38 Special +P is a solid, no frills choice for a primary and main carry gun. It's main attributes are:

• Lightweight - important for a gun that you will carry every day for hours, sometimes for more hours than you think, and in situations where comfortable concealment is an important attribute.
• Made for concealment - no hammer to hang up on clothing, smooth contours, small but ergonomic and comfortable grip.
• Solid build - USA made weapon of the highest standard and reasonable cost.
• Effective - fires the .38 Special round, which, with hollow point ammunition is very effective for self defense at the close ranges where those episodes tend to occur. The LCR can also safely fire +P ammunition for extra power at the possible sacrifice of accuracy and comfort. The LCR's smooth, double-action trigger pull is among the best available for this type of gun.
• Simplicity - being a revolver, there is very little that can go wrong in contrast to a semi-automatic pistol. There is no manual safety to disengage. The safety is built into the double-action mechanism and the internal arrangement of the striking parts. The gun can only fire if one pulls the trigger.
• Great ergonomics - which helps immensely in handling the recoil, and keeping the pistol on target.

On a personal note: I am no longer a youngster and even though I was superbly trained in the use, maintenance and accuracy of various weapons systems in the US Navy, I am not the shooter I once was. And neither are nearly all of the people I know who routinely carry a concealed handgun. We don't practice and train nearly enough, and we are not always prepared for a sudden, violent confrontation. Few people are. Given these facts, it makes sense to me to carry a solidly reliable handgun that I can shoot accurately enough at close ranges if the unlikely event should transpire. This pistol has the ergonomics, reliability and accuracy with the laser to fulfill those requirements. It won't go out of battery, jam, fail to feed or fire, eject or extract. The odds are enormously good that when I pull the trigger it will fire and I will hit what I am aiming at. Every time.

The Sight: LaserMax CenterFire

Why a laser sight? Isn't that just something else to worry about or to go wrong? Those are the most common arguments against using a laser sight on a self-defense gun, but I think they miss the point. The main purpose of a good laser sight on a concealed handgun is to help the shooter to hit what needs to be hit, and nothing else. Who needs it, you might ask? The odds are, you do. 

My guess is that fewer than one percent of the people who will read this article are experienced enough to shoot accurately if they were suddenly launched into a shooting self defense situation. Reading reports of police-involved shootings, even those in which the officers were experienced shooters, reveals that about fifty percent of them don't hit their targets even when they are shooting at bad guys who are within seven to fifteen feet.

I know I can't shoot that well, nor can most civilians who are carrying concealed handguns, so it is very important to give yourself every advantage you can if the balloon goes up. You do not want to shoot an innocent person. Let me repeat that: you never, ever want to be responsible for injuring or killing an innocent person because you can't shoot your weapon accurately. A good laser sight will help you avoid that situation and for that reason alone, you should have one on your weapon and train with it regularly.

For those who think it is too hard to learn how to push a button to turn on a laser sight, well, I can't do much for them except to suggest if that confuses them, they might seriously reconsider carrying a loaded weapon.

I chose the LaserMax for good reasons. It is a quality sight that exactly fits the Ruger LCR. Good holsters are available for it. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It remains under my control at all times. If I want it to be on, I simply touch the button with my trigger finger either before I place that finger on the trigger, or while that finger is on its way to the trigger after drawing the weapon. If I don't want the laser on for any reason, it doesn't come on regardless of how I grip the weapon, unlike the grip actuated lasers.

The Holster

Talon IWB outward side.

Talon IWB inward side.

The Talon IWB holster for the Ruger LCR .38 Special.



A good holster is a requirement for a concealed handgun. Good holster. Not the most expensive or exotic or high-tech, but a good one that does the things a good holster must do, day after day. This one, the Talon IWB is more than merely a good holster. It is a surprising holster. Although it doesn't appear extraordinary, after my extensive use in a wide variety of activities, it has proved once again that you "can't tell a book by the cover".  It possesses all of the attributes listed below and more:

• Comfort - this is not an overrated virtue. If one has committed to carrying a concealed handgun, one should carry whenever legally possible, and this means nearly all of the time. At home, in the car, the bus, the grocery store, walking the dog or through a crowded mall. In long movies or performance venues. Your gun must ride along comfortably with you, or you will leave it at home. Or in the car. Or squirm around all day trying to get comfortable with it.
• Security - the holster must keep the gun secure and in place. It should not move around, which impacts the comfort aspect and perhaps the security as well. You don't want to stand up in your favorite restaurant and have your gun fall out of your holster and hit the deck. Embarrassing at the least, hazardous at the worst.
• Safety - allied with security, it also means that it should protect the weapon from negligent discharge. If you are carrying a semi-auto, the magazine release should be safely protected as well. If one chooses an open carry holster, it should have some means whereby the gun is not vulnerable to quick grabs. A locking mechanism or safety strap is a good feature.
• Re-holstering - While not an essential attribute of a good holster, let's face it, if it is easy to re-holster your weapon with one hand, it's just a more friendly holster. 
• Longevity - good holsters are not cheap, and usually, cheap holsters are not good. Buy a good holster or two, keep them for a long, long time and save money in the long run.

In addition to the above, the Talon IWB holster has, for me, another unlooked for and outstanding feature. Variability. I like to carry either strong side, behind the hip, or in the appendix position. I feel they both have their advantages in different circumstances and different dress. This holster is equally at home in both carry positions. Talon designed it as a strong side carry holster, but after wearing it for a few days, I needed to slip my Ruger into the appendix position under a light T-shirt for a quick foray down the block. So, I slid the Talon and the LCR into the appendix spot, in the hollow in front of my hip bone. It fit there easily, comfortably and the cant was just right to angle the grip up into that little depression above my hip where it completely disappeared under the T-shirt. The angle is not so great as to inhibit a clean draw. Now, I probably carry appendix a bit more than strong side, and this one holster easily and effectively accommodates either.

Now, if I can convince Charlie and the boys to design an OWB holster for my LCR/LaserMax rig, I'll be even happier.


The Speed Loader

5 Star Bedside Blocks with loaded loaders...

5 Star Speed Loaders in Aluminum, Black and Zombie Camo

5 Star with .38 Special rounds

I approached the folks at 5 Star Firearms about acquiring a speed loader to combine with my other system components for this article. I received a package a short time later with three speed loaders and two bedside blocks. I'll admit that I had not considered, or requested, loading blocks but the 5 Star folks are better at this than I am, obviously, so they made up for my oversight with the two bedside blocks you see above. They are more than handy. Drop five rounds into the deep block holes, slip the speed loader over them, twist the knob, and shazam!, a loaded loader. Quick. No muss, no fuss. And, keeping them handy by the bedside with loaded loaders nesting inside, makes the speed loaders quickly available for use.

Frankly, I was amazed at the precision and quality of the 5 Star Speed loaders. There is a fresh wind of the old dictum, "form follows function". There is nothing extraneous about them. They are carefully designed to incorporate only those functions that go toward rapid, efficient speed loading of a revolver. No extra metal. No extra weight or bulk to carry around. The speed loaders carry the .38 Special rounds securely with enough play so that precise alignment is not an issue, and they release quickly and easily with a twist of the flat-sided knob. These loaders speak quality from top to bottom.


So there you have it, my idea of a Simplified Carry System, the SCS. It's composed of a,

• high-quality, light weight revolver for reliable action and sufficient, manageable firepower; 
• a tightly-integrated and controllable laser sight for safety and accuracy under pressure; 
• a sensibly priced, very comfortable and effective concealment holster, and
• a reliable, finely-made speed loader

I know there will be many who will disagree with my choices for the components of my Simplified Carry System. That is as it should be. No gun, holster, ammunition and accessories are meant to be all things to all people. However, I do stand by it as a system that anyone can put together quickly, at a reasonable price and have a solid concealed carry system that is reliable, effective and concealable without ending up with some unused guns, a box of old holsters under the bed and the nagging feeling that you might not be able to shoot accurately enough when you have to.

Fear

Day of the Dead

It seems like every day there is a new story, tweet, Facebook post, email thread going around about the evils of guns. These stories and anecdotes are emotional, misinformed and basically wrong. Most appeal to the writer’s version of “statistics” - the numbers game - and a picture of looming doom and craziness on the parts of gun owners. Attempting to counter these people head-to-head and get some rational discussion of the real issues is as likely as seeing a supernova explode overhead.

Why is this? What drives some people to entrench within their emotions so deeply that the prospect of elementary rational conversation is impossible? I may have found an answer.

Fear.

Simple, but powerful. These people are, by and large, afraid of being hurt or killed, afraid that their loved ones may be hurt or killed, and they are especially fearful of violence. To them, guns equal violence. Guns are easy targets for their fear and easily sensationalized by the media to feed that fear.

Fear is real, and it has its place in the evolution of the species. It is generally a protective mechanism that can keep us safer than we would be without it. But, irrational fear can become overpowering, rendering our human and rational sense useless and can make us even more vulnerable to those things that fear can help protect us from.

It is a common thread among anti-gun arguments that the last thing one should consider is fighting back. To those who argue against guns, anything is better than fighting back against those who attempt to harm us or our loved ones. However, not everyone thinks so, or has thought so. Here is a respected and well known example of a different view:

Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

So said William Shakespeare through his character Hamlet. The answer is that it is nobler to take arms and oppose them. What was true in Shakespeare’s time is also true today. It was a lot harder if you couldn’t afford a sword or knife, and were not trained and fit in their use. 

To be a free and independent person, one must have the freedom to “take arms against a sea of troubles” when no other course of action will suffice. In short, one must be willing and able to fight back against evil in the world.

Willing and able are the key concepts here.

Willing, having the will, gumption, fortitude and determination to not surrender to evil is certainly a requirement. I think that, given the so-called arguments against gun ownership by law-abiding citizens put forward by the anti-gun crowd, the will is lacking. They don’t want to stand up and fight for their freedoms, health and life. They seem to prefer that someone else do this for them. All well and good, if such were possible. But it is not. The police by and large won’t be there to help when violent people move against you. Maybe, but the odds are very small. 

Being willing does not much matter if you, the victim, are old, weak, sick, young, untrained in brutal street fighting, especially if your attacker, or attackers, are young, strong, mean, trained (or not) and armed with a weapon, be it gun, knife, club, screwdriver, tire iron, (the list goes on but I don’t have the time or inclination to take it further. Use your imagination.) If the average person, and especially the afore mentioned old, infirm, young, weak, etc., do not have the means to equal the fight, they are going to lose. Every time. Even if their attacker has no weapon to amplify his advantages in strength, years and viciousness.

Able, having the means to accomplish a desired end. In this case the only thing that will equalize a vicious confrontation is a gun. I am over seventy years old. I am a veteran of the Viet Nam era. I was trained as a weapons specialist. I am six feet three inches tall and weigh two hundred pounds. Even so, being attacked by a couple of twenty year old drug fueled criminals intent on taking my money and possessions, and perhaps leaving no witness behind, I would stand little chance with people like that. Unless I had and knew how to use a gun. Think about a seventy year old widow on social security who is faced with a similar situation. The only piece of technology that will give her a chance to survive is a gun and the knowledge of how to use it and the will to survive.

When I was in the military, the gun-hating public was plenty happy to have me on duty, armed and ready to protect them and their freedoms. Now that I am a civilian, those same people would deny me the same right to protect me and my family if I had to have a gun. Hypocrites, I say.

If you won’t stand and fight for your life and freedom, do not expect that you can deny the same rights to me. That is the intent of the Second Amendment, whether you like it or not.

All the twisted numbers you can devise will not change the fact that we live in a violent world, and always have. Removing the means by which an average person can defend themselves, and others, against that violence is ethically, morally and practically wrong. A world without guns is a world ruled by the strong and the viciously violent. I oppose such a world and will fight to prevent it from happening.

An ignorant and rude person said to me not long ago, that “freedom is free”, that violence has no part in freedom. I was in uniform, and unbeknownst to him, carrying a gun. After a brief exchange it was apparent that he was ignorant of how the world is, was terribly afraid of guns of any kind and would never consent to reconsidering his opinion. I left him with the thought that because armed people have guarded and fought for this freedom, he was free to stand there and express his opinion, regardless of how stupid it was.

The bottom line for me, is that until violence is no more on this earth, no one has the right to tell me I can’t fight on equal terms for my life and freedom and that of my loved ones, innocent people, and even the gun haters, if it should come to that.

A Systems Approach to Concealed Carry

A person who makes the decision to adopt legal concealed carry of a firearm is faced wth many decisions which include the ethical, legal and practical aspects that choice. Here, I would like to explore some of the practical questions and offer a possible approach for those opting to conceal carry for the first time, or those who are relatively new to it and may get bogged down with the myriad choices the marketplace and 'experts' offer.

Handguns and the items necessary to carry and train with them are many. Reams of paper, and lately, gigabytes of digital 'ink' have been used to promote, or decry various ones. We all have our opinions, and, obviously, some are more worthwhile than others. What are put forward as the 'best' by some people, will be criticized by others. This is how it should be. Healthy and reasonable criticism allows those with little or no knowledge of a subject to begin to separate the good from the not-so-hot stuff. Personal preference, size, build, strength, age,... all have a factor in what will be good for one person but not for another.

For the new concealed carry person to sort through all of this information and try out gear without breaking the bank is an issue. I remember when I first began playing the guitar. A very good player, and someone who had been at it for a number of years gave me very good advice: get the best guitar you can afford. Good guitars are much easier to play than bad ones and don't get in the way of learning how. Taking that advice to concealed carry, it would be best to get as good as you can afford and learn to use it effectively.

But, how is a person new to all of this going to know which of the many handguns, calibers, holsters, sights, loaders, magazine carriers, etc. to start with? One can, as many do, buy a number of each and after a period of trial and error, and increasing experience, begin to settle in on what works best for them. That's why most handgun shooters have a box full of expensive holsters they no longer use. Ask me how I know. But, I have a potential solution. Buy a system. A system composed of the basic elements you will need that are designed to work well together right away. Like a good guitar, a good system will get you started and not get in the way of learning what you need to learn. Later, after you have become more experiencd and knowledgeable, you can set about modifying the system if you need to, but you can at first concentrate on the other aspects of concealed carry, like how to carry daily, how to present your weapon if necessary, how to quickly reload, how to quickly and accurately acquire the target. And more.

To that end, I am compiling my first system. I will put it into daily use and practice and report on the good, bad and ugly I uncover.

System One

The Holster: For concealed carry using and inside waistband holster is probably the best way to start. It offers maximum concealment and, if the right holster is chosen, good to reasonable comfort, security and access.

The Sight: If you are not an expert shooter who can reliably hit a body-size target at short range under extreme stress, you need a laser sight on your handgun. There is a lot of noise and flame over the use of handgun lasers. Some love them, some hate them, and most don't really have an informed opinion. There are lots of reason against using laser sights. Most of these are wrong. The essential points are, 1. the vast majority of people who shoot a handgun are poor shots, even in a controlled, range situation. Mix in fear, loathing, and the threat of violence, and that just gets worse. Look up the statistics for police shootings even a very close ranges and you'll see that with a very few exceptions, we are all crappy pistol shots. 2. You are responsible, legally and morally, for every bullet that leaves the barrel of your weapon. Period. The very last thing you want in your life is the accidental shooting of an innocent person. If you can't be sure you can hit what you aim at, especially in situations of extreme stress, you really have no business carrying a gun. The laser sight is one piece of technology that enables the average person to become a significantly better shot and reduces the chance of missing your intended target and hitting someone you should not.

Like Jeff Quinn, and other people who know what they are talking about, says, the majority of instances when you need to resort to your handgun to protect yourself or others happen quickly and often at night. Lasers are critical aids in these circumstances.

The Reloads: If one carries a gun, it makes sense to carry enough ammunition. How much is enough? Really, it's anybody's guess. People report that the average gunfight consumes two, maybe three shots. Maybe, but I haven't seen their sources of information. There are plenty of reports of many more shots being needed than that. Granting, for the moment, they may be right, what's to say your gunfight stops with one assailant? What if there are two, or three? What if it takes four shots to stop one assailant, and the other is still trying to kill you and you have only one (or two, or three) shots left? And so on...The fact is that you should be prepared to reload your handgun at least once. Just in case. So, how to you prepare for this? What extra component in your carry system must you use? Another magazine for a semi-auto? Two magazines? How to carry them concealed and accessible? What about a revolver? Speed loaders? Speed strips? Loose rounds?

The Handgun: Today, the main choices are basically the semi-automatic or the revolver. Semi-autos have the edge in popularity while revolvers have their dedicated fans. The arguments pro and con are:

Semi-autos, Pro:

• High capacity ranging from seven rounds (with a round loaded in the chamber) to around twenty. Ten round and fewer magazines are generally preferred for concealed carry because they make the overall gun and magazine package smaller.
• Thinner than revolvers. While true, they aren't all that much thinner than a well made revolver designed for concealed carry.
• Better trigger action and easier to shoot. This, however, depends on the shooter and the amount of practice and training one has.
• More semi-autos are made for concealed carry than are revolvers. Likely true.

Semi-autos, Con:

• May not always function properly. Semi-autos, especially if not well maintained, may fail to fire, fail to eject, fail to extract, fail to feed the next round properly, fail to go into battery, and similar malfunctions that arise from the semi-auto's requirement to cycle a heavy slide to extract and load a new round and for the magazine to properly deliver that round to the slide. Basically, too many moving parts. Don't take this as a condemnation of all semi-autos. I own semi-auto pistols and have a high degree of confidence in a couple of them. I don't own others, because they don't inspire the same level of trust. It is merely that with more moving parts needed to function smoothly and reliably, there will be the possibility of trouble.
• The smaller, more concealable and comfortable semi-autos tend to suffer more from possible malfunctions than their larger bretheren. The parameters for proper function of the parts are tighter, the loads they can fire are lighter, and they need to be kept in good condition to work as they should.
• Manual safeties can be another roadblock to getting a off a fast, accurate shot. For those guns without a manual safety, there is nothing between a negligent discharge and you but a few pounds of trigger pull. Proper training and gun handling are essential to carrying and using a semi-auto without a manual safety.

Revolvers, Pro:

• Fewer moving parts. Far less possibility of failing to fire. Revolvers can fail, of course, but the likelhood of that is far less than with semi-autos. Generally speaking, if your revolver is in decent shape, it will fire when you pull the trigger. No failures to feed, eject, or jam.
• The revolvers made specifically for concealed carry are thin and light enough for the job and conceal as well as a similarly sized semi-auto given the right holster and carry position.
• Easier for the average person to shoot accurately compared to a small-frame semi-auto. This is a debatable point, but one I feel confident in making.

Revolvers, Con:

• Limited capacity. The concealed carry type is usually built to carry five rounds. These can be fairly powerful though, but the average shooter should steer clear of high power rounds, especially magnum rounds in these small guns. Powerful, yes. Accurate shooting, no so much.
• Not as concealable as a semi-auto because of the width of the cylinder. Sometimes true, but we are mostly talking fractions of an inch which, given a good holster and proper clothing, is a non-issue.
• Reloading: slower than reloading a semi-auto, but with the proper equipment, not by much. Use of a good speed loader makes this point moot. Speed strips, which are really 'not too slow' strips, will help, but they are really a means to keep loose rounds corralled in one place.

Coming up

I have put together a system for the new, or first time concealed carry person consisting of the following:

• Ruger LCR .38 Special revolver
• LaserMax Centerfire laser sight
• Talon IWB holster; Versacarry IWB holster
• 5 Star Speed loaders

I have in my possession all but the LCR. It is currently on order from Ruger but is backed up somewhere in their ordering and shipping system. I am attempting to get a date when the pistol will ship, but so far have no information. The other components were graciously contributed by their makers for this evaluation.

I will put this system through its paces through daily carry and practice with the parts - shooting, reloading, maintenance, comfort, accessibility, security for carry - and report here as the evaluation progresses. I hope this system will prove to be a good starting point for those who are kind of lost in the conceal carry woods. If this works out well, I will put together a similar system based around a well-respected semi-automatic made for general concealed carry and see how that will work. The goal being for a newcomer to be able to get all of the necessary components for a concealed carry system right from the get go without being lost in the plethora of choices out there. Once a person has gained sufficient experience and knowledge of concealed carry and how that fits into their life choices, systems can be modified with some purpose and choice.

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Idealism, Violence and Guns

As a man once wrote, "When I hear a window breaking in the night, I want to be armed with something more than my idealism."

Ruger LCR with LaserMax sight

Can't argue with that. Well, some people could, and would, but they are among the don't confuse me with the facts crowd.

Ideals are fine. In fact, having ideals is a mark of a civilized person. Unrealistic ideals, though, are something else entirely. When ideals meet facts, the rational response is to re-evaluate your ideals. Perhaps they need modification, or more. So, when I have the occasion to talk guns and gun 'control' with friends and others, I tend to deal in facts. You might find these useful:

Weaker people – women, elderly, handicapped, children, etc. – are at the mercy of violence, or worse, from a stronger person, or people unless the weaker person has a firearm. This is a totally defensible fact. Sam Harris said it better than I could:

"But when all else fails, a gun in the hands of a woman trained to use it is the best solution that civilization has found for the problem of male aggression (I am speaking here, not about domestic violence per se, but about attacks on women in general). Indeed, there are situations in which a gun in the hands of a woman who is untrained can suffice to save her life. An ethical argument for the banning of guns must tell us why it would have been preferable for this woman to have been armed only with a frying pan."

Just because an idealistic person might plead aversion to violence and prefer reasoning with an intruder does not mean that everyone else must adopt that response.

Violence – ideally, it would be great if all of the violent people in the world were suddenly rounded up and locked away, or a serum was developed to make everyone peaceful and nice. Until that day, or one like it, comes, there will always be violence perpetrated in the world, much of it on innocent victims unable to defend themselves. Violent people do not usually seek out strong, capable people, especially people whom they suspect might be carrying a gun. They look for the weak and unaware. All of the mass shootings have occurred in "gun free zones". There was a reason for this.

So, taking the two topics above, weaker people and violent people, it only makes sense to be prepared to defend oneself and others. Sure, the odds of being violently attacked in the USA are small, but not as small as some people think.

No Guns = Less Violence - Unfortunately for those that cling to this view, the facts don't support their case. Countries that have banned handguns have fewer handgun shootings than the USA, but far more violence.

Here are a few facts (thanks to Sam Harris' website):

Incidents in the year 2010 per 100,000 population

Homicide:
U.S.  4.8
UK (includes Northern Ireland)  1.2
Australia 1.0
Sweden 1.0

Rape:
U.S.  27.3
UK (England and Wales)  28.8 
Australia 88.4
Sweden   63.5

Assault
U.S.  250.9
U.K. (England and Wales)  664.4
Australia   766
Sweden   936.6
Scotland 1449.7

Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Note: UNODC data and those of the Australian government do not agree. For Australian rates of Assault and Rape, I have relied on the report issued by the Australian Institute of Criminology

So, basically, those in favor of banning guns are willing to accept much higher possibilities of being assaulted without adequate means of fighting back. Doesn't matter how much hand-to-hand street fighting training grandma has, its not going to matter when that eighteen year old junkie decides to take her out for the social security money in her purse.

Guns are 'bad' and designed to kill people - "Bad" is a relative term. This is easily illustrated by the fact that, according to the economist Steven J. Levitt, if you own a gun and a swimming pool, the swimming pool is 100 times more likely to kill your child than your gun is. Driving your children to school while texting your girlfriend yet being worried about normal citizens going crazy with guns is an example of twisted priorities about the nature of good and bad. There are times when a gun is a tool that is much more useful than either a swimming pool or being able to send text messages on your smart phone.

A bad gun can suddenly turn into a good thing when drug addled psychopaths are crashing into your home.

Enough with the 'facts'.

Simply put, the world is a violent place. Always has been and I see no indication that will change. Given this fact, and the fact that the only thing that gives the average person an equalizer with which to protect herself and others from violent people is a gun, the urge to take guns away from law abiding citizens is both stupid (as adverse to ignorant. Ignorance can be overcome with education.) idealistic and will do nothing to abate violence or protect others from it. If the statistics from 'gun free' countries is any guide, banning guns will only serve to increase violence.

Don't try to enforce your idealism on others. Live your own lives and we will live ours.